


Humans of Beacon Hills

by hazyascent



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, POV First Person, Sometimes Canon Compliant, sometimes canon divergent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-07-28 22:22:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16250972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazyascent/pseuds/hazyascent
Summary: This work is inspired by “Humans of New York,” which is a compilation of snapshots of various people on-the-street - a photo and a blurb about them/their lives gained via interview.  Life experiences are nuanced and nearly limitless.  (We can’t turn into Smurfs or eat giant gummi bears growing on trees …)  But amidst our similarities and our differences, at the end of the day, we’re all people and we can see each other as distinct people with distinct stories.In the style of HONY, each chapter features a Teen Wolf character.  I like writing something specific without needing to fit it into a larger story.  It’s also very conducive to writing for peripheral characters.  And part of the fun is recognizing when canon events or other people are cited by the highlighted character.So come and take a peek at the strangers who aren’t strangers to us at all!NOTE - Since this isn’t a contained story with a beginning and an end, this work will not be marked complete until/unless I decide to conclude it.  Tags will be updated as content is added.





	1. Argent #1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi readers! I’m trying something very different from the first story I posted.
> 
> In case you’re not familiar with “Humans of New York,” peruse its various social media accounts! It’s now more global in its reach and not confined to New York. The brief profiles can be very thought-provoking and the community of commenters is generally positive and considerate. 
> 
> In terms of the Teen Wolf version, it’s really more “Humans* of Beacon Hills,” with the disclaimer that not everyone featured is actually human, hahaha. But a broad reader audience wouldn’t know that, so “Humans of Beacon Hills” it is!
> 
> The profiles don’t all take place around the same time, like during a particular season. More specific timing can sometimes be determined by context (like if a character references a canon event that just happened, or it’s clear the person is now in college), but otherwise, they can be read as generally undefined in timing.
> 
> My plan is to post 2-3 at a time since they’re, by design, not that long in word count. Each chapter is labeled with the character’s name and number (e.g. Lydia #1, Lydia #2). Multiple posts for the same character don’t necessarily build on each other (e.g. Lydia #2 isn’t necessarily compatible with or a continuation of Lydia #1), but if they’re connected, I’ll state accordingly. Also, if there are any key triggers or warnings for a particular feature, I’ll put that in the chapter title as well so it’s crystal clear where it occurs in the series, for those who want to or need to avoid. (Or if you’re seeking it out!…)
> 
> Since each chapter includes a picture, I’ve done my best to accommodate this by using a skin that resizes the image to fit on the reader’s screen and including a caption, in case you can’t see it or it didn’t download.
> 
> Lastly, I checked AO3 and google at large for anything like this in the Teen Wolf fandom. I didn’t find anything, but it could exist and I didn’t find it. I don’t have a tumblr account so I didn’t search there. There may be a version of this in other fandoms, but I didn’t check those. Bottom line - Any resemblance to an existing work (besides HONY, fundamentally) is not intentional!
> 
> If you’d like to check out anything else I’ve written, I have one other longfic completed and posted, so feel free to mosey over, but heed the tags! (Like I said, “Humans of Beacon Hills” is very different.) I’m also working on a Derek POV story that I hope to start posting soon.
> 
> Thanks and please enjoy!

[Image Description - Chris Argent is looking up and off to the side and smiling big with teeth, like the treasure he is.]

 

“My family has been very matriarchal, generation after generation. I really liked that and followed the same model after I married my wife. It was a great partnership and I never felt like I had to be the leader just because I’m a man, or that we weren’t equals. I had the utmost respect for her and often deferred to her judgment. We had an amazing daughter together and I was looking forward seeing her become the matriarch of her own family, too.

Then my wife died, and the next year, my daughter passed away, too. She was only a junior in high school. Those were dark days. I just wanted my family, but they were gone. My father and sister are still around, but we’re deeply estranged because of our wildly different value systems.

I was alone, and I thought I would be alone forever. I came to terms with that enough to find my way back to my purpose in life - helping other people. And now I’m in a wonderful, healthy relationship with the father of one of my daughter’s friends. It wasn’t something either of us were looking for, but we have a lot more in common than just our kids. He’s a widower, too, and family is his main priority. He’s also in law enforcement, so I’m with someone who shares my values again. His son is a firecracker, just like my girl.

I can’t replace my family, nor am I trying to. It’s been a new lease on life, though. Our relationship isn’t matriarchal since we’re both men, but we have a good balance. Sometimes I help with him at work as a consultant and we make decisions together. Last time we went on vacation, he picked the destination. We’re shopping around for a new house and I’m taking the lead there.

I miss my wife and daughter like crazy, but I’m so grateful to have found happiness again. I wake up next to happiness every day.”


	2. Malia #1

[Image Description - Malia is smiling and looking into the distance, lips pressed together and hair in a loose side braid.]

 

“I grew up in a rural environment and spent a lot of my formative years away from society. I was home-schooled in my own way. When I started going to public high school as a junior, it felt like this big puzzle that everyone seemed to understand but me. I had friends, but there were so many things I didn’t know and I wasn’t learning fast enough.

One day, I heard some other kids talking about how they learned English by watching American tv shows when they were younger. So I tried that out for what I needed, because what did I have to lose?

It turned out that I didn’t recognize that much from tv. I know now that tv isn’t very realistic, but still - the things that happened, the way people interacted, the jokes they made - that seemed more foreign to me than my own daily life. It was a little better once I started watching the SyFy channel, though. Those shows made a lot more sense.

I just had to learn the hard way through experience. No shortcuts for me. I owe a lot to my friends for helping me so much. Hand-holding me at times. Correcting me when I needed to be corrected and overlooking the small stuff. They knew I was weird, but they didn’t care. And the more I paid attention to what they were saying and feeling, the more I understood that being a teenager is a mystery to everyone. It’s not just me after all.

And yeah, I think Ross and Rachel **were** on a break.”

 

 

_**In case anyone isn’t familiar, this included a reference to an age-old argument on “Friends.”_


	3. Finstock #1

[Image Description - Finstock is standing in the aisle of a school bus, grinning around a whistle in his mouth.]

 

“I’ve been involved with sports my whole life. I’m a high school lacrosse coach and played in high school and college. Back then, I was a lot more insecure than I like to remember. I mostly do and say whatever I want to now, but I wasn’t always like that. I caved into the peer pressure of what I was supposed to be as a jock and as a man. I was really into writing poetry, but I felt like I couldn’t do that anymore, so I gave it up and didn’t write a thing for years. Decades.

Before a recent game, I called one of the kids up to play first line. I called him by the wrong name; close enough - it rhymed at least. But he didn’t care. He was just so excited to play because he never plays. I know it wasn’t exactly what I said that lit him up like a Christmas tree, but there was a moment there when all my brain could do was connect his happiness with the rhyme.

The next day, I bought a new journal and started writing again. It might not be very good, but it’s me. Why can’t I be a jock and a poet after all? Now that I’ve gone back to this hobby, part of me wonders if I wouldn’t have struggled as much with alcohol earlier in life if I’d just let myself be who I wanted to be.

I’ve started performing at Open Mic nights in neighboring towns. I don’t think Beacon Hills is ready for my literary gems yet. Check me out sometime - I go by the stage name ‘Baron Gold.’”

 

 

_**Baron Gold is a shout-out to the ‘Duke Silver’ alter ego from “Parks and Recreation.”_


	4. Stiles #1

[Image Description - Stiles is sitting down at a classroom desk, head tilted slightly and the light bringing out the golden amber in his eyes.]

 

“I’ve pretty much always been a troublemaker. It doesn’t come from a bad place. I don’t make trouble for the sake of making trouble. I just don’t live the kind of innocuous, uneventful life that’s amenable to coloring within the lines. Maybe I’m rationalizing a little bit, but it’s mostly true. I break the rules to do what I think is right or protect the people I care about. Even when I was very young and the stakes were low, I saw rules as discretionary.

There was a period of time when I was all about being a perfect, well-behaved child, though. My mom died of a degenerative brain disorder when I was a kid. After that, it was just me and my dad, and my dad’s the best. He’s not that strict at home, but at the time, he was a county deputy, so following and enforcing rules and laws was his livelihood.

Being a single father on top of that is tough. Getting over the death of your wife is next to impossible. So I didn’t want to make his life any harder. I put a lot of work into being good. Compliant. No more messes. No calls or notes from teachers. For the first time in my life, I was an easy kid.

This went on for about a month until my dad sat me down to talk about the change in my behavior and where it was coming from. I was honest about it. I wanted him to be happy again. But he told me I should stop being a Stepford child and be myself, because if I wasn’t, then it would be like he’d lost me, too, and he wanted the real me.

I don’t always tell him the truth - everyone has secrets - and he probably wishes I got in less trouble, but he really does know me. Our relationship is filled with a lot of love and authenticity. That’s one of the greatest gifts he’s ever given me. And that’s what I want when I have my own kids someday, too. I just want them to be who they really are. Unless my kid is a Phillies fan. We’d have to have a serious discussion about that one.”


	5. Erica #1

[Image Description - Erica is dressed down with minimal make-up, biting her nails and hair blowing in the wind.]

 

“I was so awkward growing up that I was invisible, hiding myself physically and mentally. A lot of kids don’t have money, cool clothes, glossy hair, and good skin, but I suffered from epileptic seizures, too. I didn’t feel like anything good came out of being seen.

The seizures stopped in high school, my face cleared up, and I started wearing make-up and sexy clothes. It was all very ‘look at me, look at me!’ The pendulum swung the other way and I loved being 'a hot girl.' That was finally how people saw me. It was a kind of power I’d never had before. I also met my boyfriend around that time. Like me, he had once been a loner who didn’t think anyone cared about him or his problems. We were a 'hot couple,' simultaneously out of other people’s leagues but within each other’s.

Eventually, the novelty of being 'hot' wore off and I settled into a happy medium, no longer actively seeking approval and attention. Putting my best self forward became less and less about what I looked like and more about who I am. People I meet now have no idea about my insecure and alienated past. That’s the only part of me that’s still invisible.

One day, I was using my boyfriend’s computer and saw that he’d been googling epilepsy. I panicked because I thought he might be sick, but when I asked him about it, he told me he’d been reading up on it for me. Even though I don’t have the seizures anymore, he knew they were a big factor in shaping how I feel about myself and the world.

He sees and cares about every part of me. I don’t need a man who gives me flowers or jewelry or nice things. I don’t turn it down when he does, but it really is the thought that counts. I don’t believe in fairy tales, but I believe in him.”

 

 

_**Coincidentally, Sinqua played Sir Lancelot in “Once Upon a Time,” so in an alternate universe, maybe Erica could be convinced to believe in them, haha._


	6. Isaac #1

[Image Description - Isaac is wearing a knit v-neck sweater (of course!) and looking to his right while the sun shines behind him on his left.]

 

“My dad used to hit me and scream at me, even when I was in high school. He said I needed discipline, but I never felt like it was supposed to make me a better person. It definitely didn’t make him one. I know all families have conflict, but this wasn’t normal.

My mom and older brother died in separate incidents, so I took the brunt of my dad’s temper alone. He was a gravedigger, too, which probably didn’t help. Death had surrounded him, and the way he processed that, I don’t think he appreciated life. The glass was half-empty and he saw every day as a soulless grind.

I could never really feel love for him because my fear and anger were too strong. I think I hated him. But at the same time, I held out hope that he could change.

Even with our dysfunctional relationship, there’s a part of me that entertained the possibility that he would be different with grandkids. Like he’d be the kind of guy who mellowed out as he got older, as though he’d come to realize the things that used to make him so furious didn’t actually matter or he was too tired to feed that rage anymore. He could be the fun, spoiling granddad with no parental responsibility or stress. He could play with the kids when he wanted and go home when it turned into work. My imaginary children would know him as a polar opposite person than I had. And I wouldn’t resent that, like ‘why didn’t you treat me like this?’ I would be grateful that the legacy of abuse ended with me.

My dad passed away before I turned eighteen, so I’ll never know how it could’ve been. It’s probably better that I don’t. Reality can fuck with your mind. It’s your life’s canon. So I’ll take my fanfiction. This way, I can keep the daydream alive.”

 

 

_**Lol geez, this is only the sixth installment and it’s 50% references to family deaths, and often multiple deaths at that. But that’s Teen Wolf backstory for you!_


End file.
